Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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The Branksome Slogan 5 THE EDITORIAL Your editors have been reading the first issue of “The Slogan” which was published in 1910. It makes fascinating reading ! The chief topics of general interest seem to have been the Budget elections in England, Halley’s Comet, and the death of King Edward VII. The editor says, “Think of the earthquakes, floods, air-ships, Arctic discoveries, political crises, and phenomena of the heavens we have already in store. We shall be quite interesting old ladies I am sure !” Yes, they had all those things, but so have we — triplefold! Science has advanced at an unprecedented rate; “political crises” are everywhere; three English kings have been crowned since then and many thrones have toppled. Yes, forty years have made a great difference to the world, but what have they done to Branksome? In forty years Branksome has grown from one great old house at 102 Bloor Street East (the site of the present Manufacturers Life Insurance Building) , to five great old houses with their additional modern classrooms on Elm Avenue in the heart of Rosedale. A small list of alumnae has grown into a list of hundreds. This year, we hope that we have started a custom in Canada by having as visitors, the representatives from an American school. The English exchange of pupils has been continued successfully. Yet for all these material changes Branksome is still the same. The intangible “something” which is the spirit of the school ( — - — the comrade- ship and the sportsmanship, and in greater measure than ever, the basic training in thinking for ourselves — — ) always has been and always will be an integral part of the Branksome tradition. But what else constitutes the tradition of a school and causes the love for it which burns in the heart of every graduate ? At Branksome a happy mixture of many factors creates this feeling. The name, Branksome Hall, and the choice of the kilt and the clans, the newly-added Branksome Honours — these give us the romance and picturesqueness of Scotland. What other school can boast of this? And what other school has a Miss Read? To many of the students and graduates Miss Read is Branksome. In how many “Slogans” since 1910 may we read the words “owing to the energetic efforts of Miss Read.” How typical it is that it was Miss Read who woke the house girls at 3.30 a,m. to see Halley’s Comet ! Miss Read, with her youthful spirit, her broad outlook and her understanding of problems, is a principal of whom we are all proud. To very few comes the opportunity to influence so many lives or to hold the affection of so many. In the times of stress that will come to us all, we know that our memories will flash back to her earnest words of a belief in the goodness of God. To conclude, may we again refer to the first “Slogan” and say with it, “Dear Old Branksome ?” THE EDITORS.

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4 The Branksome Slogan

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E DITORIAL STAFF Editors-in-Chief: Ruth Pidgeon, Johanna Broughall. Art Editors: Geraldine Jephcott, Peggy Porter. Sports Editors: Marion Wallace, Claire McMullen. Photography Committee: Allison Roach, Gilda Walwyn. General Committee: Carol Merritt, Audrey Budgeon, Ellen Avigdor, Lynn Dibblee, Judith Ferguson, Jennifer Jones, Rita Barr, Judith Jephcott, Georgina Laing. Advertising Committee: Peggy Webster, Elizabeth Tubby, Beverley Balmer, Nancy Lyle, Mary Barnett, Wendy Large, Joan Archer, Jean Wahlroth. Form Reporters: Form V — Geraldine Jephcott, Charlotte Campbell. Form IV — Judith Jephcott. Form III — Janet Howard, Susan Marshall. Form II — Molly Hewitt. Form I — Mary Eieanor Smart. Arts Forms — Barbara Annand.